Cannes Winners Join Toronto Fest

Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" was one of 26 international film selections announced Tuesday (June 27) for the Toronto International Film Festival.

Typically one of the year's biggest pre-Oscar launching pads, Toronto will feature Ken Loach's "Barley," but will also include several other films that took key Cannes prizes last month.

With a cast including Brad Pitt, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" won the Cannes' directing prize and will have its North American premiere in Toronto along with Bruno Dumont's "Flanders," the Cannes Grand Prix winner.

The Loach film will play as part of Toronto's Masters program with several of the films it vanquished at Cannes, such as Aki Kaurismaki's "Lights in the Dusk" and Nanni Moretti's "The Caiman."

Cannes Jury Prize winner Andrea Arnold's "Red Road" and Corneliu Porumboiu's "12:08 East of Bucharest," Camera d'Or winner at the Festival, will show in the World Contemporary program.

John Cameron Mitchell's risque "Shortbus," an out-of-competition Cannes entry, will also get a North American premiere in Toronto.

"Our primary allegiance at the Festival is to our loyal audiences," says Noah Cowan, Festival co-director. "To that end, we select the very best films from key, primarily European, festivals which run before our own. We bring these films back to our continent for a 'second unveiling.' They are films that have moved us, by way of their beauty, originality and overall cinematic achievement."

Of the 26 announced films for Toronto -- more will come in the next few weeks -- 25 are North American firsts.

The 31st Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 7 to 16, 2006.